Swarthmore cross country coach Pete Carroll shares his first and last name with the football coach of the University of Southern California, the defending co-national champions. However, with this year’s talent, Swarthmore’s Coach Carroll has an arguably more important job than his counterpart on the West Coast. Despite last year’s success, including championship performance by Centennial Conference Runner of the Year Lang Reynolds ‘05, runner Garret Ash’s ‘05 record in the 3000m during track and harrier James Golden’s ’05 5000m track conference championship, coach Carroll is looking to bring home more hardware.
Athena Samaras | Phoenix Staff
Runners on the men's cross country team train for their upcoming meet at Lehigh on Sept. 25.
“Last year we finished third at the conference meet. We missed nationals by one spot,” he said. This year the team is eyeing not only a Centennial Conference championship, but also the national berth that comes with it.
False hopes? Don’t count on it. “This is the biggest, deepest team I have ever coached,” Carroll said. He is taking special precautions to prevent injuries, a problem that hobbled last year’s team. More time for warm-up and drills focused on health should prove valuable as the season continues. “Right now we’re just trying to stay healthy and focused for the conference and region meets,” he said.
The women’s cross country team is also trying to build on last year’s success. The theme for the fourteen-runner team is “small but mighty.” Last season featured two all-conference runners and a fourth place finish at the conference meet. Elizabeth Gardner ‘05 captains the squad this season after qualifying last year for the track and field national meet. In addition to Gardner, Carrie Ritter ’06, Emily Wistar ’06 and Molly Maurer ’06 are strong all-conference candidates. Coach Carroll is optimistic about his mighty runners, training to crack the top three in conference and the top ten at Nationals. He hopes that the two teams will feed off each other’s performances. “The men push the women and the women inspire the men,” he said. Either way, both teams will be pulling for each other at the Sept. 25 meet at Lehigh.
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